A Book Blog

June 19, 2017

Review: Seeker by Veronica Rossi

Seeker (Riders #2) is the conclusion to Veronica Rossi’s most recent duology and I must say, I was very pleased with how it all wrapped up. See my reasons why and enter to win a copy of Seeker and some awesome bracelets!

Seeker by Veronica Rossi (Riders #2) Published by Tor Teen

Synopsis:

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Veronica Rossi’s new fantasy adventure in the Rider series—Seeker .

When Daryn claimed she was seeing visions during her sophomore year of high school, no one believed the truth. She wasn’t losing her mind, she was gaining the Sight the ability to see the future. If she just paid attention to the visions, they’d provide her with clues and show her how she could help people. Really help them. Daryn embraced her role as a Seeker. The work she did was important. She saved lives.

Until Sebastian.

Sebastian was her first and worst mistake.

Since the moment she inadvertently sealed him in a dark dimension with Samrael the last surviving demon in the Kindred guilt has plagued her. Daryn knows Sebastian is alive and waiting for help. It’s up to her to rescue him. But now that she needs the Sight more than ever to guide her, the visions have stopped.

Daryn must rely on her instincts, her intelligence, and on blind faith to lead the riders who are counting on her in search of Sebastian. As they delve into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems and where Samrael is steadily amassing power, Daryn faces the ultimate test. Will she have to become evil to destroy evil? The very fate of humankind rests in the answer.

My Thoughts

*First off, I want to thank Tor Teen for sending me a finished copy of Seeker to read early but it doesn’t influence this review.

If you follow my blog, you’ll know I was part of a Creative Tour for Seeker and I wrote a post about the weapons of the 4 riders. You can check that out here!

The Book

POVs

Seeker picks up about 8 months after the events of Riders and the first thing you’ll notice is we are now given the point of view from Daryn’s perspective. Riders was only Gideon. I was originally told by a friend that Seeker was ALL Daryn and at first I was a bit disappointed because I found her character lacking in book 1. I loved Gideon and it is rare to come across YA books that are only from male povs. BUT, Seeker is dual pov, for both Gideon and Daryn and I couldn’t have been happier.

Their voices were different and I really connected with Daryn in a whole new way in this book. Getting into her mind really helped us understand this mysterious girl. She had a lot more to her past than we realized.

Style

One thing that was different about Riders was how it was written. In Riders, Gideon was a held as prisoner and was being forced to recount his story. So it was him telling his story in flashbacks which was kinda cool but not necessarily my favorite.

Seeker is written just regular style from Daryn and Gideon’s pov as things are happening. So, it was written in a way that was much easier and enjoyable.

The Story

As I said above, we pick up 8 months later with Daryn and she’s really struggling with guilt and failure from losing Sebastian in their fight with the Kindred. She’s lost her ability to see visions and now feels utterly worthless and is motivated to make things right, no matter the cost to her or her safety.

This is a survival story and a rescue story all wrapped into one. Through various circumstances Daryn and other boys head to The Rift to rescue Sebastian. Is he the same, is he alive? Is it worth the cost retrieving him? And each trip they make back and forth might cause them to get stuck there forever.

I found Seeker’s story to be much more fleshed out. It flowed well and I think we got to know the characters all better because we also got to see their darkest deepest fears and joys.

THE CHEMISTRY! Honestly, it’s almost worth reading to see the chemistry between Gideon and Daryn. I was kinda disappointed by how the chemistry felt awkward in book 1 but Seeker more than redeemed itself. I love the two of them together!

Theme: I love it when I can see themes in books and I know it’s interpreted differently depending on who you are, but I saw a theme of redemption, forgiveness and second chances. Veronica is a genius when it comes to motivations of characters and making them truly feel REAL.

Overall

Even if you were meh about Riders, I’d highly recommend you picking up Seeker. It was thrilling, well written, heart pumping, heart breaking and everything in-between. Veronica is a master of creating worlds and characters so if you want to know what happens, pick it up! I gave it 4 stars.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Veronica Rossi is a best selling author of fiction for young adults. Her debut novel, UNDER THE NEVER SKY, was the first in a post-apocalyptic trilogy. Released in January 2012, it was deemed one of the Best Books of Year by School Library Journal. The series appeared in the NY Times and USA Today best seller lists and was published in over 25 foreign markets.

Her second series for young adults will begin with RIDERS (published February 16, 2016), the story of four modern day teens who become incarnations of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and the prophetic girl who brings them together.

Veronica completed her undergraduate studies at UCLA and then went on to study fine art at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. She is a lifelong reader and artist. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she has lived in Mexico, Venezuela, and all over the United States, to finally settle in Northern California with her husband and two sons.

When not writing, Veronica enjoys reading (it’s worth repeating), painting, and running. She does NOT like anything involving numbers, the addition of them, subtraction of them, you name it. They terrify her. Her obsessions generally lead to fictional works. Currently, she’s exploring New York City during the Revolutionary War.

Don’t tread on me. (If you know what that means, then you are my people!)

YAY 😀 Lovely review Sarah. <3 So glad you enjoyed this one a lot 🙂 I must read it one day. Didn't have the best feelings with Riders.. but that was because of the writing style. Makes me more excited that this writing style is different 😀 Yesss. Thank you for sharing sweetie. <3

I really enjoyed Riders. I thought it did a good job at setting the foundations for Seeker to build upon and I’m glad that it does just that. I love a dual narrative and I’m glad we get Daryn’s POV because I want to explore her character more. I’ll definitely be picking up this book in the near future. Great review.

Great review!!! I loved Riders so I can’t wait to read this one!!!
Some of my fav paranormal books:
Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones
The Hollows series by Kim Harrison
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
All books written by Anne Bishop
I could keep going! The are a lot of great ones out there!